I knew a man who lived in fear.
It was huge, it was angry it was drawing near.
Behind his house, a secret place
was the shadow of a demon he could never face.

The Subspace Café

Rakurai learned of a popular venue, frequently visited by Starfleet cadets: the Subspace Café. He spent several in the café observing the people.

Every morning for the last two days, he noticed a young human woman in a long red jumpsuit came in at 0900 hours with a strange looking Vulcan female. The human woman had long red hair that fell to the small of her back, and she carried herself with an easy, self-assured grace. He admired her confidence, something he seemed to have lost since arriving on this planet. He felt out of place, lost.

On the third day, she come in with more friends: a Caitian, a human male and female. The Caitian was accompanied by a large red dog. Rakurai looked at the woman when he thought she was not looking.

Every few minutes, they laughed out loud, even the Vulcan, causing him a great deal of confusion based on what he learned about her people. Rakurai knew for sure that she wasn't Romulan, he found most people holds a strong resentment towards them. Romulans only set foot once on this planet, but that was over a century ago.

Rakurai thought they did not notice him. He was wrong. The Vulcan whispered, "I think Mister Green and Scary over there kind of looks like a raptor."

"Raptor ?" the woman said in surprise, a little too loud though.

"What is a raptor ?" the Caitian asked.

"Very smart dinosaur, cute too." the Vulcan said.

"Cute ?" the red haired woman said longer than me meant to.

"Well cute to me." the Vulcan answered in a hushed voice.

"You are crazy Mouse, " the red haired woman remarked.

Mouse smiled, "Some people have known that for a long time."

"What is dinosaur ?" the Caitian asked, confused.

"Lizards that used to live on Earth, they have been extinct for millions of years." the human woman replied.

Mouse peered at him from the corner of her eye. "He is going it again."

"Well then we have to do something about it, right ?" the human woman said as she got to her feet. Mouse tried to stop her, but her friend was all ready out of reach.

She walked right over to the stranger at the bar. "Hi there. My name is Alice."

He could not get his jaw to move. "So ... are you going to stare at me all day or are you going to tell me your name ?" she asked.

"I am recognized as Rakurai." he finally managed to say.

She heard the words, Striker, or Stryker.

"Stryker, eh ?" Alice took him forcefully by the arm and dragged him over to her table. Pointing at the people sitting at the table. "Stryker, meet MRess, Ray, Mouse and Deanne. Guys, this is Stryker."

Author's note: The translator mistranslated Rakurai as Stryker.

Introductions

Stryker sat down at the table and greeted everyone. He looked at Ray for a second. The human had a medium brown complexion, a few grains of beach sand in his black hair. His attire was simple, black shorts and a red shirt without sleeves. Stryker recalled Mouse calling him, "Island boy" earlier.

Uh, so Deanne was the another human woman's name, he thought, looking at her. She was slim, her skin softly toned and lightly tanned. Her lips were small, brown eyes with a tint of dark blue around the edges. Her golden hair was folded and kept up with two clips at the back while the front half is left to come down at both sides of her face. Her clothing consisted of long black jeans and an orange-pink skirt with a zipper front, half undone to show her navel. Below she wore her skirt were two belts hanging loose around her waist. Deanne tried not looking at him, he wondered why.

He then turned to look at MRess. Typical to Caitians, his entire body was covered by yellow-orange fur, and his neck surrounded by a golden mane. That thing must be hard to comb through each day.

Stryker looked at Alice. Her skin was lightly tanned, although a bit darker than Deanne's. She wore a similar red outfit that she's been wearing for the last three days. Her red hair was long and hung loosely, almost chaoticaly around her shoulders. Her voice, soft almost lyrical, with a slight and enduring th when she says s. Her electric green eyes full of spirit and vitality. Stryker sensed a positive attitude in Alice, she's the quick witted type and obviously loved to laugh.

Next, his attention fell on the weird Vulcan. It is hard not to notice her. Mouse wore a grayish-white shirt and pants, a black belt made out of something like suede. Her skin, a heated shade of pink, her eyes a few shades darker. Purple lips, bright orange hair tied up in a high, pointy ponytail and eyebrows of the same colour. Black nail polish, the tips painted silver. She had small but intricately designed gray tattoos on her forehead and around her eyes, however it set off her harsh beauty by giving her face a striking look. A pair of small vampire fangs did not escape his notice either.

After a few moments of silence, Alice turned to him. "What species are you and where are you from ?"

"I am Edenian. My homeworld is called Edenia Prime."

"I never heard of it before. Where is it ?" Alice asked.

"In the G quadrant. Located in Sanige Forren sector."

"Gamma Quadrant." Ray corrected him.

Alice thought she could sense a feeling of loneliness in his voice, "Far from home, eh ?"

"Something like that." he said thoughtfully. Damn this audio translator.

"Your homeworld is a water type planet, right ? Can you breath underwater ?" Alice inquired.

"Yes and no. But I can hold my breath and stay under for up to six minutes." Stryker replied. "You really know archaeology and xenology quite well ... Alice."

"My parents are both scientists. Almost everyone in my family is. How long have you been on Earth ?"

"Forty days."

While he was talking to the others, Alice examined Stryker's unusual clothes. He was wearing black boots, matching leather gloves, navy blue pants and a black open chest body-suit. An tri-star insignia of some kind was displayed on his belt. She made a mental note of it to ask him about it later.

He felt the feelings of awkwardness around these unfamiliar people start to dissipate, when he asked "Mind if I ask you a few questions ?"

They looked at each other for a few seconds and nodded, "Sure."

"You are all going to attend Starfleet academy ?" he asked. Nods come from around the table.

He could not resist his next question as he turned to Mouse, "I have never seen a Vulcan laughing before."

Mouse smiled, brushing a strand of her hair back, tucking it behind one of her pointed ears. "Not Vulcan, I am Vellorian, remotely related to Romulans and Vulcans. We are not as stuck up as Vulcans, we like to have fun and things like that."

"Uh, " was all Stryker could manage as Mouse and Alice laughed softly.

"So, what do you do for fun around here ?" Stryker asked.

Hot Cheeks

"I am going to regret this !" he thought to himself.

A minute before lift off, two female instructors looked at their class of students. The blonde haired spoke first, "Listen up people. I want everyone to have a good time. I just ask that everyone of you follow one very important rule. Just one simple rule."

The students all looked at her, she held their full attention now. The blue haired one addressed them, "If you feel the need to vomit," She raised her voice for emphasis, "DON'T!"

Eleven people stared at her.

"I am really going to regret this !"

Dressed in a silver dropsuit, Stryker was staring out the gaping jump-off port at the huge blue and white orb hanging in space before him -- and was frozen to the spot. His knees wouldn't work. I hate heights. I really really hate heights.

Alice jumped out. He untensed near the jump port in preparation to back away from it. But the instructor, Maxine had other ideas. She waited for just the right moment, then put her foot on his behind and shoved him out of the shuttlecraft. He paniced, arms cartwheeling as he tried to grab something, anything to halt his descent.

After the initial shock and near 'heart attack', he had to admit that the experience is a blast. There he and Alice were, hanging over the Earth in their own personal orbit. After nine minutes, his instruments informed him that his orbit was decaying.

They started their descent. Alice skimmed the atmosphere, sparks literally flying out from under her feet. She shrieked in delight from the thrill of it. Stryker winced at the shriek, "Ouch, my head."

Alice was having fun, "Hey!" she said through the communicator. "There's really nothing to this!"

They fell, and fell, and fell for more than twenty minutes. Alice attempted to etch her name in the sky, using the smoke created from the friction before she'd drop below the safety zone.

The friction from his sheer falling speed created smoke as well. What followed turned a joyful ride into a frightening plunge. Somehow, his feet whipped out from under him, putting him into a backward tumble.

He remembered what to do from the simulation. He was able to halt the tumble, but did not have the strength to reposition his feet under himself. He was falling, backside first, towards the grassy plains of South America. Fortunately, the safety chute automatically deployed with a satisfying yank to his entire person. He knew now that he was going to be all right.

Alice's chute opened too, moments later. Little did she know, is that her suit had come dangerously close to failure, measured by the degree of charring on her 'backside.'

"How do you feel ?" she asked him when he safely landed next to her on the grass prairie. The feet of their dropsuits were blackened, charred by the heat as they entered the atmosphere.

He shrugged as he pulled off his helmet, "I cannot feel my legs. In fact, I cannot feel anything. I am completely numb all around."

Their hands flew to their ears as a pair of sound shockwaves come from above. "Sonic boom!" Alice whooped. Stryker simply slumped, content to sit on the ground where it is safe. No more damn falling. He looked up at her, "And worst of all is, I am still scared of heights."

For the remainder of the day, they dropped three more times, each time more professionally than the last. Unfortunately, Alice ended up with the nickname of "Hot Cheeks," which the instructors had branded her with -- even more unfortunate that it spread like wildfire among the other jumpers. She did however threaten to decapticate Stryker if he told this to anyone about this nickname, especially Mouse. Something about Mouse must never know or 'I will never hear the end of this.'

Tired thoughts

Stryker arrived at his apartment shortly before 2300 hours. He got partially undressed and laid down in his bed. Fountains activated to fill it up with salty water.

He closed his eyes. Faces of his five new friends flashed in his mind. He first thought of the golden haired woman. The flail looking one, Deanne. There is something unique to her, missing from the others in the group.

He thought about it for a minute before finally identifying it. Her pure spirit, her innocence. A direct opposite from Mouse and Alice. I am guessing she is about the same age as Alice. Why is she so shy ? I hope I did not intimidate her today.

Deanne seems to be involved with MRess, paying little attention to the group. I could not help but notice that there seems to be bitter rivalry going on between Mouse and Deanne.

Alice is both, beautiful and kind. I definitely like her best out of the entire group.

Alice and Mouse, the odd couple. Formerly thieves and renegade girls on the run. Their history together is quite strange. They travelled together in a shuttle for nearly six years when they got stuck on Betazed as the Dominion invaded and occupied the planet. He heard stories of how they had to hide in a dangerous system of caves to protect them from Jem'Hadar patrols, how the Betazoids fought back with poison blow darts.

He thought about the feral woman named Mouse. She is opinionated, very abrasive. The woman certainly has an adventurous spirit, a glutton for excitement. Her behaviour seems odd, even forced upon herself for some reason. Maybe she is trying to run away from something or someone in her past. The woman seems to have infinite energy reserves. Is Mouse a name or a nickname ?

MRess is very curious about his environment. That nose of his is pretty damn amazing. Most interesting, his movements are always deliberate and his attention, sharply focused. His voice certainly is unusual and quite interesting, soft but with a deep, purring resonance.

Ray is definitely more serious than the three women. He does not like me, come to think about it, neither does Mouse.

Maybe I should unleash Wiuen on her. That is, if I can find him.

He smirked, then burst out laughing at the entertaining idea.

Next Chapter
Party night

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